St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-09-17


was from Romans, Oh. xii, v. 10: "Given
to hospitality" and his discourse as fol-
lows:
There is danger that the multipllca-
ton of large and commodious hotels IN
our towns, and cities, and villages, will
utterly exterminate that grace which
Abraham exhibited when he entertained
the angels, and which Lot showed when
he watched for guests at the gate OF the
CITY, and which Christ recognized as a
positive requisite for entering Heaven
when he declared, II was stranger and
ye took Me in"
propose to speak this morning of the
trials and rewards of Christian hospital
ity. The first trial often comes in the
whim and eccentricity of the guest him
self. There are great many excellent
people who have protuberances of dis
position, aud sharp edges of tempera-
ment, and unpliability Of character,
which make them positive nuisance in
any house where they stay. On short
acquaintance they will begin to command
the household affairs, order the en-
ployees to unusual service, keep un-
seasonable hours, use narcotics in places
offensive to sensitive nostrils, put their
feet at unusual elevations, drop the ashes
of their Havana on costly tapestry, open
bureaus they ought never to touch, and
pry into things they ought never
to see, and become impervious
to rousing bells, and have all
the peculiarities of the gormandizer
or the dyspeptic, and make excava-
lions from poor dentistry with unusual
implements, and in thousand ways
afflict the household which proposes to
take care of them. Added to all, they
stay too long. They have no idea when
their welcome is worn out, and they
would be unmoved even by the bless
ing which my friend Gerrit Smith, the
philanthropist, asked one morning at his
breakfast table, on the day when he
hoped that the long protracted guests
would depart, saying: 80 Lord, bless
this provision, and our friends who
leave, us to-dayr' But, my friends,
there are alleviations to be put on their
side of the scale. Perhaps they have
not had the same refining influence
about them in early life that you have
had. Perhaps they have inherited eccen-
tricities that they cannot help. Per-
haps it is your duty, by example, to
show them better way. Perhaps they
are sent to be trial for the development
of your patience. Perhaps they were
to be intended as an illustration of the
opposite of what you are trying to in
culcate in the minds of your children.
Perhaps it is to make your home the
brighter when they are gone. When our
guests are CHEEKY, and fascinating, and
elegant, it is very easy to entertain them
but when we find in our guests that
which is antagonistic to our taste and
sentiment, it is positive triumph when
we can obey the words of my text and
be "given to hospitality"
Another trial in the using of this grace
10 in the toll and expense of exercising
it. In the well-regulated household
things 60 smoothly, but now you have
introduced foreign element into the
machinery, and though you may stoutly
declare that they must take things as
they find them, the Martha will break in.
The ungovernable stove. The ruined
dessert. The joint that proves to be I'M
masticable. The delayed marketing.
The perplexities of caterer. The diff
Guilty of doing proper work, and yet
always being presentable. Though you
may say that there shall be no care or
anxiety, there will be care and there will
be anxiety. In 1894, the captain general
provided very grand entertainment; and
among other things, he had fountain in
his garden-a fountain of strong drink.
In it we're four hogsheads of brandy,
eight hogsheads of water, twenty-five
thousand lemons, thirteen hundred
weight of Lisbon sugar, five pounds of
grated nutmeg, three hundred toasted |
biscuits, and boat built on purpose was
placed in the fountain, and boy rowed
around it and filled the cups of the peo-
pie who came there to be supplied. Well,
you say, that was luxurious entertain
ment, and of course the man had no
anxiety; but 7 have to tell you that
though you had, or propose, an enter
tainment like that, you have anxiety. In
that very thing comes the Divine reward.
We were born to serve, and when we
serve others we serve God. The flush
on that woman's cheek as she bends over
the hot stove is as sacred in Gods sight /
as the flush on the cheek of one who on
a hot day breaches the Gospel. We
may serve God with plate, and
cutlery, and broom, as certainly as
we can serve Him with psalmbook
and liturgy. Margaret, Queen of Nor
way, and Sweden, and Denmark, had a
royal cup of ten lips, on which were re-
corded the names of the guests who had
drunk from this cup. And every Chris
tian woman has royal cup, on which
are written all the names of those who
have ever been entertained by her in
Christian style-names not cut by human
but written by the hand of
Divine Jesus. But, my friends, you are
not to toll unnecessarily. Though the
fare be plain, cheerful presidency of the
able, and cleanliness of appointments
will be good enough for anybody that
,ver comes to your house. John Howard
vas invited to the house of nobleman.
de said: II will come on one condition,
md that is that you have nothing but
potatoes on the table," The requisition
vas complied with. Cyrus, King of
Persia, under the same circumstances,
prescribed that on the table there must
,e nothing but bread. Of course, these
we're extremes, but they are Illustrations
# the fact that more depends upon the
'anqueters than upon the banquet I
want to lift this idea of Christian enter
ainment out of positive bondage into
glorious inducement. Every effort
ou put forth and every dollar you give